Cader Idris
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Cader Idris - by Darren Turner
Cadair Idris or Cader Idris is a mountain in Gwynedd, northwest Wales that lies at the southern end of the Snowdonia National Park.
The mountain, which is one of the most popular in Wales for visitors, is composed largely of Ordovician igneous rocks, with classic glacial erosion features such as cwms, moraines, striated rocks, and roches moutonnées.
Cadair Idris, or to use its anglicised title of Cader Idris, derives its name meaning ‘Chair of Idris’ from the giant warrior poet of Welsh legend.
The mountain looms menacing and primeval over the surrounding landscape. Cadair Idris consists of a massive 11km long ridge and although only the 19th highest mountain in Wales, is the second most popular mountain in the country after Mount Snowdon.
The summit, Penygadair (Top of the Chair) at 2,927 feet (892m), offers a superb panorama of mountain scenery. The mountain is notorious for its low cloud but on a clear day it is possible to see the mountains of the Snowdon massif and the Rhinog mountain range as well as the Lleyn Peninsula and the hills of Shropshire, the Long Mynd, the Wrekin and occasionally Ireland.
To the north of the summit lies the very steep and craggy north face, where the cliffs drop around 200 metres. The other peaks of the ridge are Mynyyd Moel (855m), Pen-y-Gader (893m) and Mynydd Pencoed (798m).
The mountain consists of a long ridge, its northern face is craggy and precipitous, in contrast to the south face which slopes more gently into the broad expanse of the Dyfi estuary. There are a number of paths which lead to the summit, the Fox’s Path leads directly up the mountains north face.
Names
Cadair Idris (English: the chair of Idris) is in reference to a giant of Welsh mythology who was said to have used Llyn Cau, as an enormous armchair. The spelling Cader Idris is also found in both Welsh and English, as reflected in the name of the local secondary school, Ysgol y Gader (never Ysgol y Gadair). Although cader is not incorrect, Cadair Idris is the form used on current maps in reflection of modern standardised Welsh spelling.
It should be noted that the entire mountain is called Cadair Idris but its summit is known as Penygadair (English: top of the chair).
Cader Idris - by Darren Turner
Ascent
On the Tal-y-llyn side of the mountain the main walk / route up us begins from Dol Idris carpark right next to the Minffordd Hotel, its called the Minffordd Path
Much of the area around Cadair Idris was designated a National Nature Reserve in 1957, and is home to arctic-alpine plants such as purple saxifrage and dwarf willow
The crater-like shape of Cwm Cau has given rise to the occasional mistaken claim that Cadair Idris is an extinct volcano. This theory was discounted as early as 1872, when Charles Kingsley commented in his book Town Geology
I have been told, for instance, that that wonderful little blue Glas Llyn under the highest cliff of Snowdon, is the old crater of the mountain; and I have heard people insist that a similar lake, of almost equal grandeur, in the south side of Cader Idris, is a crater likewise. But the fact is not so.
The natural bowl-shaped depression was formed by a cirque glacier during the last ice age when snow and ice accumulated in the corries due to avalanches on higher slopes. In these depressions, snow persisted through summer months, and becomes glacier ice. The cirque was up to a square kilometre in size surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs. The highest
cliff was the headwall. The fourth side was the “lip” from which the glacier flowed away from the cirque. Over thousands of years the ice flow out of the opening of the bowl carving the chair of Caldair Idris.
Myths And Legends
There are numerous legends about Cadair Idris. Some nearby lakes are supposed to be bottomless, and anyone who sleeps on its slopes will supposedly awaken either a madman or a poet. This tradition (of sleeping on the summit of the Mountain) apparently stems from bardic traditions, where bards would sleep on the mountain in hope of inspiration. The mountain’s name refers to the mythological giant Idris (Idris Gawr) who was said to have been skilled in poetry, astronomy and philosophy. The name has sometimes been mistranslated by some popular authors as Arthur’s Seat, in reference to King Arthur (and to the hill of the same name in Edinburgh), an idea used by author Susan Cooper in her book The Grey King. However, this is a modern invention and there is no etymological or traditional connection between Idris and Arthur.
In Welsh mythology, Cadair Idris is also said to be one of the hunting grounds of Gwyn ap Nudd and his C?n Annwn. The howling of these huge dogs foretold death to anyone who heard them, the pack sweeping up that person’s soul and herding it into the underworld.